Bottled water dispensers are usually arranged to receive the neck of an inverted bottle filled with clean water. Sometimes, as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,188 and WO 90/03919 for example, the bottle is provided with a cap through which a feed tube is inserted to discharge the water from the bottle into one or more reservoirs inside the dispenser. The water may then be heated or cooled in the reservoir, from whence the water can be drawn via a discharge valve.
There is currently a requirement to maintain strict hygiene in water dispensers. In the majority of dispensers, the reservoir is a fixed metal unit which must be sterilised and de-scaled in situ. This is an expensive and time consuming operation, so the process is not carried out as often as might be desirable.
An aim of the present invention may be viewed as being to improve the hygiene of such dispensers.